Page 12 of Assassin Daddy

‘I don’t feel so… good,’ Kyan said, the color draining out of his face as he started to collapse.

Fortunately for Kyan, he fell into Matteo’s strong chest and Matteo was able to hold him up with ease. As insane as the situation sounded, Kyan knew at the bottom of his heart that Matteo was telling the truth. There was something about the sincerity in his voice and the deep, soulful look in his dark eyes that felt so authentic.

Kyan knew a bluffer when he saw one. And Matteo was most definitely not bluffing.

‘B-b-b-but, what am I supposed to do? Go to the police?’ Kyan asked, his face pushing up against Matteo’s strong chest.

‘Out of the question,’ Matteo replied. ‘I was sent to kill you. There’s no going to the police. We’ll have to work something out. You’ll need to trust me. And you’ll need to do as I say from here on out. Got it?’

Kyan nodded and felt a tear roll down his cheek.

This was all too real now.

There was something about the way that Matteo rebuffed the very idea of going to the police that made Kyan very aware that this wasn’t an ordinary man – and that was even without considering the fact that Matteo had apparently been sent to kill him. If that was true, then that opened up the possibility that he had done this before…

‘I… I… I don’t know you,’ Kyan said, his bottom lip wobbling as he spoke.

‘You don’t,’ Matteo replied, holding Kyan a little tighter and closer to his body. ‘I understand why you feel scared. But trust me, if my intention was to do what was instructed of me, I would have done it already. You’re safe with me, boy. Daddy is going to protect you. And that’s a promise.’

Kyan gasped as he heard Matteo utter the wordDaddy.

Could Matteo really be…

Was he…

And even if he was, Kyan wondered whether he would live long enough to tell the tale…

Chapter 6

Matteo

Matteo shut the passenger door of his car and walked round to the driver’s side. Knowing that his intended target was alive and well in the front of his vintage Porsche was a feeling that Matteo had never experienced before – and that was putting it mildly.

What the hell have I done?

Unless I play this perfectly, I’m dead.

This damn boy better be worth it…

Matteo had known from the second that he saw Kyan in the park that there was no way on earth he was going to follow Alphonso’s orders and kill him. Each and every bone in Matteo’s body knew it would have been wrong to take an innocent young life. Sure, he was a killer. But Matteo only ever killed with honor – and there would have been absolutely nothing honorable in killing Kyan. The fact that Kyan just so happened to be drop dead gorgeous was a side issue, and so too was the sight of his stuffie’s ears poking out from the top of his colorful backpack.

He might have been a Daddy, and it certainly looked like Kyan was a Little, but Matteo’s reasoning for going against the code and disobeying his boss was truly down to his personal ethics.

‘Why?’ Kyan asked, looking across nervously from the passenger seat as Matteo got in and took his place behind the wheel. ‘Why saveme?’

‘Because…’ Matteo said, suddenly unsure as to how much information to give Kyan. This was a highly dangerous situation, and Matteo knew nothing about the boy. For all Matteo knew, Kyan was liable to make a run for it and tell the cops everything he knew. But Matteo knew that he needed to at least make an attempt to explain. ‘Because you’re innocent. And I don’t kill innocent people.’

Kyan attempted a nervous laugh but ended up coughing. Had the situation not been quite so serious, Matteo might even have found the moment cute. However the reality of what was going on was that Kyan was his intended kill, he was still alive, and he was sitting in Matteo’s car.

It was time to get the hell out there.

It was time to drive across the city and take refuge in Matteo’s townhouse.

And if Matteo happened to come up with a plan along the way, then all the better…

‘Wow, this place is… nice,’ Kyan said, nervously looking around the grand entrance hall of Matteo’s gothic townhouse. ‘It’s… enormous. I guess being a hitman is a big money deal?’

‘Right,’ Matteo said, arching his eyebrow and feeling a little taken aback by Kyan’s somewhat sassy remark. ‘First things first. Let me show you up to your room. Don’t worry, this placeis highly secure. Very few people know where I live. I don’t get visitors. And as far as my employer is concerned, I’m working on finishingthe jobtoday. So as long as we get moving, there’s nothing to worry about in the immediate future. Well, not much. Follow me.’

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